Telephone-jack.



A. L. SOHM.

TELEPHONE JACK.

APPLICATION FILED AUGA, 1908.

Patented July 6, 1909;

ALSOM rw.

W/ nwssszs INVENTOR Attorney Cir Cir

UNITED STA OFFICE.

ALFRED L. SOHM, OF WHITTIER, CALIFORNIA, ASSIG-NOR 'lO NATIONAL ELECTRIC WORKS, OF WI'IIITIER, CALIFORNIA, A. CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

TELEPHONE-JAGK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 6, 1909.

Application filed August 4, 1908. Serial No. 446,944.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED L. Some, citizen of the United States, residing at WVhitticr, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'lelephone-Jacks, of which the following is a speciii ation.

My invention relates to spring jacks for telephone and like switch-boards, and more particularly to the manner of mounting the same upon the supporting plates, and the object thereof is to provide a simple and inexpensive construction whercby any desired one of the acks may be readily and quickly removed and restored to its position without disturbing the others, and without the use of tools in either operation.

At present, as is well known, it is customa y to mount the spring jacks upon jack plates, from 10 to 20 jacks being secured to each plate, and to build up the switch-board by superimposing these plates upon each other, in a suitable frame. It is therefore necessary at present, to remove an entire plate in order to repair any one of the subscriber jacks held thereon, the said jacks being further held upon the said plates in such manner to necessitate the use of tools in their removal.

By the use of my invention, th ase disadvantages may be wholly overcome, as will be evident from the following description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings, illustrating a preferred form of my in vention, and in which,

Figure .1. a plan View of a jack plate having a plurality of spring jacks secured thercon. Fig. 2 is a side view thereof. Fig. 3 is an end view thereof. Fig. 4 is a side view of one of the subscriber jacks, and, Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view, on an enlarged scale, illustrating the means for locking the acks in position.

In the drawings, the base plate 1 is shown as provided with a socket strip 2, upon one of its longitudinal edges as is usual, said socket strip being provided with transverse openings 3 therethrough for the reception of the ordinary jack plug A shown in Figs. 1 and. 3. The socket strip 2 is preferably of insulating material as hard rubber and its openings 3 are preferably provided with brass bushings 4 to prevent wear of said strip.

In the illustrated. embodiment of my invention, I provide the jack base 1, with a bridge strip 5, disposed as shown, parallel with and adjacent the longitudinal edge thereofopposite the socket strip 2'. This strip is provided with a continuous downturned ii ange 6 upon its inner longitudinal edge, and with equidistantly spaced downturned projections 7, upon its outer longitudinal edge. The strip is spaced and maintained in its superposed relation to the jack base 1, by spacin members 8 extending upwardly from said base 1, and tapering toward their upper ends to project upwardly through central openings in said bridge strip, said spacing members 8 and said opening in said bridge strip for the reception of the upper ends thereof, being arranged in alinement with the said projections 7 upon the outer longitudinal edge of said bridge strip.

The jacks employed in my improved do vice, embody the ordinary tip spring 5), sleeve spring 10, and calling device springs 11, spaced apart, in a compact set for each subscriber, by a hard rubber block 12, molded or otherwise formed about the same adjacent their outer ends, said block being provided with a rear curvedv cut out portion 13, ex tending transversely of the jack. The jacks thus formed, are adapted for insertion beneath the bridge strip 5, toward the socket strip 2, upon the base 1., and between the spacing members 8, until the forward upper transverse edge of the block 12 engages against the continuous downturned flange 6, of the bridge strip 5. When so engaged, the rear edge of the blocks 12 will be in alinement with the outer longitudinal edge of the said bridge strip 5, providing sullicient space between said block and the said downturned projections 13, for the reception of a locking rod 14, extending longitudinally for the en tire length of said bridge strip 5, to act as a locking means for the series of subscriber jacks mounted thereunder.

From the foregoing it will be readily seen that when it is desired to remove one of said subscriber jacks for repair or other purposes, it is simply necessary to withdraw the lock ing rod 1.4 slightly beyond the jack in question, thereby freeing the same for removal rearwardly from the plate 1, between the downturned projections 7 of the bridge strip 5, thus rendering the operation simple and capable of being performed in a minimum. of time without the necessity of using tools.

While I have shown and specifically described the referred form of my invention, it will be evident that numerous changes in details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having fully described my invention, I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a base plate, a bridge strip arranged thereon in superposed relation, a plurality of subscriber jacks extending beneath said bridge stri in a series longitudinally upon said base plbte, and a longitudinally movable locking member engaging between said bridge strip and said jacks, and extending longitudinally of said base plate to permit of the independent removal of said jacks, upon the longitudinal movement thereof, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a base plate, a bridge strip arranged longitudinally thereon, and provided with a continuous downturned flange upon one edge and with spaced downturned projections upon its opposite edge, a )lurality of subscriber jacks, mounted in a longitudinal series upon said base plate, and extending beneath said bridge strip, between said downturned projections, and engaging said downturned flange thereof, and a removable locking element extending longitudinally of said base plate and associated between said bridge strip projections and portions of said jacks, throughout the series to permit of the independent removal of said jacks, upon the longitudinal movement thereof, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of a base plate, a bridge strip arranged longitudinally thereon and provided with a continuous downturned flange u on one longitudinal edge thereof, and wit 1 spaced downturned projections upon its opposite longitudinal edge, spacing members extending between said base plate and said bridge plate, in transverse alinement with said projections, and serving to support said bridge strip, a plurality of sub scriber jacks mounted in a longitudinal series upon said base plate, and extending beneath said bridge strip, between the said projections and said spacing members, and en gaging said continuous flange, and a removable lockiug rod extending longitudinally of said base plate, between said downturned projections and portions of said jacks throughout the series to permit of the independent withdrawal of said jacks upon the longitudinal movement thereof, s ubstantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED L. SUI-Ll.

Witnesses RUTH BARKHAM, ALrHoNso MOORE. 

